Prognosticon for 1489

Pestilence carries off every kind of cattle and man alike;
Things which flow now prosperously to the lands because of the sky:
But adverse things descend to men from one body,
And times rise up with changed affairs.
The sun makes the year divided into four parts by months,
When it illuminates the fleece of the golden ram The constellation Aries,
From which the whole order of the Fates will be known,
Which suggested to me what things are to come throughout the year,
To bring forth diverse figures of the year to vary,
As it pleases the author of things who administers all things,
And dispenses turns by a certain moderation of things.

It was pleasing, most Reverend Father and Lord Raphael, with Urania the Muse of astronomy dictating, to compose these verses, so that what we are about to say may be better understood: namely, that these lower things are not governed only by human counsel, but that all things which happen to us depend on the fatal disposition of the sky, according to the disposition of that eternal majesty, by whose arbitration all things happen and are governed. Therefore, we submit what we shall narrate in the present prophecy to be ruled and moderated by His arbitration. And may He be our helper.

This year 1489 is to be divided into four parts according to the discipline of astronomers: because the Sun enters the first minute of Aries on the 20th of March at 14 hours and 54 minutes and 32 seconds past noon, with the 21st degree and 55 minutes of Capricorn ascending at the angle of the horizon, with the moon existing in the 6th degree and 7th minute of Cancer, Saturn existing in the 14th degree and 13 minutes of Capricorn with the head of the dragon, Jupiter in the 5th degree and 10 minutes of Aries, Mars in the 18th degree and 58 minutes of Cancer with the tail of the dragon, Venus in the 2nd degree and 50 minutes of Taurus, and Mercury in the 18th degree and 1 minute of Pisces.

According to the doctrine of Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy, the ancient astronomer, this year will begin from the conjunction of the moon and sun which preceded the sun's entry into Aries. And this is on the second day of March, with the 14th degree and 26 minutes of Cancer ascending, Mars being in the angle of the orient, and Saturn in opposition to Mar